From Tony Nicolette's D2football.com GLIAC Column:
#9 Hillsdale (3-1, 4-1) at Ohio Dominican (0-4, 0-4)
It took a few weeks, but the Chargers have finally cracked the Top Ten of the D2Football.com Top 25 Poll ? and deservedly so, in my humble opinion. The Chargers and their lofty ranking will head to Columbus to take on an Ohio Dominican club that has managed only thirteen total points over the last couple of weeks. The Panthers will need to find a way to score a heck of a lot more than that if they plan on keeping up with a Hillsdale offense that is clipping along at 36 points per game.
Hillsdale Keys:
- A Nice cup of Joe - Charger running back Joe Glendening is leading the league in rushing by a wide margin, and he and his bruising offensive line will square off against the GLIAC's second-worst run defense. Sorry, Panther fans, but be ready to get beat up. Look for Joe the Show to rack up his yards and likely give way to his supporting cast in the second half.
- Plenty o' Blitzin' - Jeremy Fudge appears to have supplanted Billy Griffin atop the ODU quarterback depth chart. Fudge didn't make a ton of mistakes in his first collegiate start last week, but the Panthers didn't find a great deal of success either. If I'm Hillsdale, I make sure the game doesn't "slow down" for a second-time starter on my watch.
Ohio Dominican Keys:
- Don?t forget Troy - While it's a given that ODU needs to try and slow down the HC ground game, they can't fall asleep against Charger quarterback Troy Weatherhead either. The senior is completing north of 82% of his passes, and has the weapons to rip up any secondary in the league. Putting eight or nine in the box to stop Glendening is NOT a sure fire way to slow down the Hillsdale offense, and any thoughts to the contrary will quickly be proven wrong by the nation's most efficient quarterback.
- Don't hassle the Noff - Panther running back Mike Noffsinger is ODU's leading rusher, a solid pass-catcher, and has come up big more than once this year on special teams. The junior needs to keep rolling as a team leader and take some pressure off of the quarterback position that has had trouble producing results this year.
Prediction - The Chargers are a top flight club. The Panthers, on the other hand, are a young bunch that is learning about the rigors of D2 and the GLIAC. It's hard to see this one staying close for long, especially given how strong Hillsdale is on offense and how much the Panthers have struggled with slowing clubs down of late. Hillsdale 45, Ohio Dominican 10.
Read the whole column.
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